Have there been times in your life where it seems like God has forgotten you? I know there have been times like that in mine.
There have been times when difficult circumstances arose which seemed to drown out the voice of the LORD. There have been losses that seem to overwhelm. Probably the most difficult time for me was shortly after moving to Idaho from California and leaving behind my entire family, including our youngest son who was 17 and a senior in high school.
For a solid year it felt as if God had forgotten me. Someone once called those experiences a “dark night of the soul.” I did not sense God’s presence. I did not hear His voice, no matter how much I tried. I felt forgotten by the Living God.
I wasn’t though. No matter what it felt like, no matter what my emotions were trying to proclaim as truth, the truth is, God cannot forget His own. During that time, I clung to two Scriptures.
One in Isaiah 49, where Zion claimed God had forgotten her. He responded, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the child of her womb? Even if these forget, yet I will not forget you. Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands.” [vs 14b-16a HCSB]
The other Scripture is a promise from our Great Shepherd. “My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” [John 10:29 HCSB]
A Bible teacher once told me that the picture Jesus drew with His words in this Scripture was His sheep resting in the palm of His hand with the Father’s Hand cupped over His.
No matter what the world proclaims, no matter what our emotions scream at us, God has not, cannot forget His own. Praise His Glorious Name.
